Apartment flood. Steps that are to be taken to win in court

Flooding your flat by neighbors is unpleasant and, unfortunately, popular case. It will be useful to know how to act for every dweller of an apartment building in this situation. It will help you to solve your problem quickly and compensate losses.

Step by step actions

If owners of flat find out flood then at once they have to call on housing and communal services for drafting an act which confirms fact of flood. The act is drafted in two examples according to the Rules of keeping of apartment buildings and adjoining territories (approved by the State Committee on housing and communal services dated the 17th of May 2005 no.76). The document is signed by not less than three workers of housing and communal services in a presence of neighbors and flat’s owners.

There must be the reason of flood. If the water liquids because of failure of home appliances or because of a banal negligence, then all claims have to be made to neighbors. If flood occurs because of interruption of a constructive integrity of pipes or engineering communications, claims have to be made to managing organization (construction, housing or other institution).

If tenants live in a flat then you must call on flat’s owners who are obliged to lease a real property according to an agreement which define liability of parties (including maintenance and repair of communications). If there is no agreement then you have to made claim to a flat’s owner.

Consequences of a flood

Consequences of a flood are material losses which were suffered by owners of flooding flat. Photos of damaged property and constructions have to be attached to the act.

A culprit of a flood also has to sign an act. If he or she refuses that there must be written a special sign.

Calling on independent expert commission

It can be a construction company who has a license for construction works. A copy of license has to be kept (it will be necessary in a court). Representatives draft a defective act and estimate of construction works. According to these documents amount of a material compensation is calculated. But builders count only exes for recovery of construction and decoration, spoiled premises. So they don’t count property which was spoiled (especially by a hot water). That’s why you also need to include an amount of spoiled property into losses (upholstered furniture, carpets, lamps).

Spoiling of a valuable property

If there are rare valuable things (paintings, panel etc.) then it will be too hard to compensate this price in a court. A valuation of antiques is conducted by well-known in their sphere experts and there are no so many of them. Except it, neighbors don’t have an opportunity to pay back price of these things because of their finances. Because of it lawyers advise to insure a valuable property from a flood necessarily. In this case payments must be made by an insurance company.

Submitting a claim to a court, claimant may wish for compensation of losses or making a construction works with a culprit’s help.

In the most of cases people don’t wait for a court’s decision (claims can be last too long) and reconstruct their flats by themselves. In this case you have to attach all agreements with a construction team and prior documents (checks, bank receipts, invoices which confirm price of construction works).